Asia and Oceania Thyroid Association

The 16^th International Thyroid Congress Sketch

December 16 – 20, 2020, China

The 16^th International Thyroid Congress (ITC) was held in China, between December 16 through 20, 2020.

The 16th ITC was hosted by the Asia & Oceania Thyroid Association (AOTA) and Chinese Society of Endocrinology (CSE), Chinese Medical Association (CMA). It was co-sponsored by sister societies Latin American Thyroid Society (LATS), European Thyroid Association (ETA) and American Thyroid Association (ATA). The congress was originally planned to be held in Xi’an, China in September, 2020. Due to the pandemic of COVID-19, it was eventually held as a virtual conference in December 2020.

Members of program organizing committee were Weiping Teng (Chair, AOTA, China), Chao Liu (AOTA, China), Minho Shong (AOTA, Korea), Masanobu Yamada (AOTA, Japan), Gabriela Brenta (LATS, Argentina), Claudia Pellizas (LATS, Argentina), José Augusto Sgarbi (LATS, Brazil), Duncan Bassett (ETA, UK), Anita Boelen (ETA, Netherlands), George Kahaly (ETA, Germany), Laura Fugazzola (ETA, Italy), Dagmar Führer (ETA, Germany), Sheue-yann Cheng (ATA, USA), Susan Mandel (ATA, USA) and Ralph P. Tufano (ATA, USA). Key members of local organizing committee were Jiajun Zhao (LOC Chair), Yiming Mu (LOC Co-Chair), Zhongyan Shan, Chao Liu and Bingyin Shi.

The concept of the 16^th ITC meeting was “INTERDISPLINARY”. The program organizing committee contributed to a high-level scientific program. The program included 1 session regarding recent advances in thyroidology (4 lectures delivered by Robin Peeters, Gregory A. Brent, Fereidoun Azizi and Ana Luiza Maia, respectively), 12 plenary lectures (delivered by Zhongyan Shan, Fabian Pitoia, Anthony Hollenberg, Rosella Elisei, Yaron Tomer, Denise Pires de Carvalho, Greg Randolph, Ki-Wook Chung, Graham Williams, Jiajun Zhao, Ralf Paschke and Mikio Watanabe), 26 symposium sessions (80 lectures) and 3 award lectures (awarded by AOTA, ETA and ATA, respectively). Three awardees announced at this congress were Paul Yen (AOTA), Antonio Bianco (ETA) and Nadia Schoenmakers (ATA). The “INTERDISPLINARY” concept was reflected by cross-talks between different disciplines in symposium sessions, from basics science to translational research to various clinical perspectives.

The congress provided a great platform for international endocrine specialists, surgeons and other health professionals to present and discussed the up-to-date research and developments in thyroidology. Ninety-nine speakers were from 18 countries, and were members of AOTA (33), LATS (17), ETA (19), ATA (25) and non-society members (5). The number of registered participants was 1 190 from 45 countries. The congress videos had received over 25 000 hits as of March 31, 2021.

The 16^th ITC congress was closed following the announcement that we would meet again in the 17^th International Thyroid Congress, June 18-22, 2025 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

A note from Ashok Bhaseen, President of Thyroid Federation International

“There are still many people living with some kind of thyroid disorder without diagnosis. The International Thyroid Awareness Week is now in its 11th year, and I promise, we at Thyroid Federation International and its member countries won’t rest until testing and diagnosis rates improve globally. This year we’re helping people to recognize the many faces of thyroid disorders so they can visit a healthcare professional and get tested as soon as possible.“

Look for patient programs on education and awareness in your country or visit the Thyroid Federation website in your country.

How to get involved in this year’s campaign

If you’re on social media, keep up with the campaign via our channels on Twitter and Facebook, and play your part in the global movement by using the hashtag #ITAW19. This will help us raise awareness of thyroid disorders, which affect more than 200 million people worldwide as per ATA (American Thyroid Association).

Visit us on www.thyroidweek.org and www.thyroid-fed.org

Why are we doing this?

ITAW, now in its 11^th year, was created to highlight the detrimental impact that thyroid disorders have on people’s quality of life when left undiagnosed. Around 1.6 billion people worldwide are thought to be at risk, with hundreds of millions living with a thyroid condition right now.[i] Up to 60% of those living with a thyroid disorder are undiagnosed, and people may be needlessly struggling through their everyday lives without knowing the root cause of their symptoms.[ii]

However, once diagnosed, thyroid disorders are treatable, and the ITAW campaign is pushing hard to improve testing and diagnoses globally.

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i Khan A, Khan MM, Akhtar S. Thyroid disorders, etiology and prevalence. J Med Sci 2002; 2: 89–94. Available at: http://www.scialert.net/fulltext/?doi=jms.2002.89.94&org=11 Last accessed February 2019.

ii American Thyroid Association. General Information/Press Room. Available at: https://www.thyroid.org/media-main/press-room/  Last accessed February 2019.